TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK: Rockets game won't air live Sunday

Don't look for Rockets live on local TV Sunday

Published 6:30 am, Friday, February 23, 2007

Thanks to a scheduling quirk, the Rockets' game Sunday at Orlando will mark the first time in years that Houston fans won't be able to see a live Rockets game on local TV.

The game starts at 1 p.m., which falls within ABC's exclusive noon to 5 p.m. window for its nationally televised doubleheader. The Magic leave after the game for a road trip, so the team wasn't interested in moving the start time outside the ABC window.

Thus, FSN Houston will show the game on tape delay at 5 p.m., then re-air it at 11 p.m.

Rockets broadcaster Bill Worrell says he thinks he remembers a similar delayed broadcast in the late 1990s involving a Sonics-Rockets game that fell inside the network window.

Mark joins Dynamo

Former KPRC (Ch. 2) reporter and anchor
Steve Mark
is back on the clock as the Dynamo's director of public relations. He also will be the team's play-by-play voice this season on KBME (790 AM).

Oddly enough, the opportunity with the Dynamo came via Mark's hometown of Chicago. He applied for a similar post with the Chicago Fire, whose management put him in touch with Dynamo chief operating officer Chris Canetti.

"Everything just came together," Mark said. "Of all the opportunities I was pursuing around the country, it was really fortunate that things worked out around the corner."

NBA, Daytona ratings

Fox Sports' Daytona 500 coverage easily outdrew TNT's
NBA All-Star Game
broadcast Sunday, totaling 33.7 million viewers to 18.2 million for the NBA game, but Houston was one of a handful of markets in which the All-Stars carried the day.

In Houston, TNT had a 7.6 Nielsen household rating for the NBA All-Star Game to 7.2 for the NASCAR race on KRIV (Ch. 26). San Antonio (10.4 for the NBA and 5.4 for Daytona), Dallas-Fort Worth (8.1 for the NBA to 7.2 for Daytona), Los Angeles, Miami and New York were among the other markets that preferred the NBA.

Las Vegas had the nation's top rating for the NBA game at 10.5 (to 11.1 for Daytona), followed by San Antonio and D-FW. Houston came in sixth, behind Cleveland and Detroit.

On Fox, Houston ranked only 40th among the 55 major markets for Daytona ratings, but the 7.2 rating represented an 18 percent jump from 6.1 last year, when Houston ranked 51st. That was the fourth-largest percentage increase among the 55 markets.

Nationally, Fox's 10.1 Daytona rating was down from 11.3 for last year's race on NBC, which aired during the Winter Olympics. The NBA All-Star Game had a 4.2 Nielsen household rating on TNT, and audience totals were roughly flat with last year's.

Matthews wins Frick award

Matthews' career represents the stability that eluded Hamilton for the first half of his career in broadcasting. He has spent 38 seasons with the Royals as an original member of the franchise's radio network, and now he will join Hamilton and Gene Elston as a recipient of the Ford Frick Award for contributions to broadcasting from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"He was the first name on my ballot," Hamilton said. "He's been a good, straightforward announcer his whole career, and it's great news."

Matthews is one of just eight announcers in MLB history, including such names as Vin Scully and Jack Buck, to spend a career of at least 35 years with the same ballclub.

Four DVRs, no waiting

Contrary to what you see via your on-screen programming guide, officials at KNWS (Ch. 51) say the station will carry Texas A&M-Baylor and Texas-Oklahoma on Saturday. ...

The Astros were stiffed in the first round of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball games announced this week. Eleven games were announced, and six feature the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox or Cardinals. ...

Rockets radio analyst Jim Foley is resting at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital after undergoing two hours of surgery Thursday to remove his right kidney. He is expected to be hospitalized next week and hopes to return to the air April 1. You can send best wishes via Rockets director of broadcasting Joel Blank at joelb@rocketball.com

By the way, Bill Worrell interviewed Foley on FSN Houston regarding the surgery prior to Wednesday night's game and said Heat centerAlonzo Mourning, who underwent kidney transplant surgery in 1999, apparently heard the clip and stopped by the broadcast table to wish Foley well. ...

FSN Southwest will relaunch its High School Scoreboard show at 11:30 p.m. the next three Saturdays to run down basketball scores throughout the playoffs. The girls' Class 5A title game will air at 8:30 p.m. March 3 on KTBU (Ch. 55) and the boys' final at 8:30 p.m. March 10.